On this day, 16 December 2011, the Zhanaozen massacre took place in Kazakhstan when police massacred oil workers who were striking for unpaid hazard pay.
Workers at the state-owned Ozenmunaigas oil company had gone on strike in May, and 1000 of them were then fired. The sacked workers then set up a protest camp in the central town square and remained there for months.
Authorities decided to clear the square for Independence Day celebrations. So security forces opened fire on the workers. Russian-language blogs reported that eyewitnesses claimed that around 70 workers were killed and 500 injured, whereas official sources report around 10 to 16 deaths and around 100 injuries.
In response to the massacre, workers rose up and rioted. They set the Ozenmunaigas offices ablaze, and burned down the Hotel Aruana, which was the building to the immediate west of Ozenmunaigas.
Many workers were subsequently arrested, and some tortured, putting an end to the protest. But workers in the city rose up again in 2022.
Pictured: women supporting the strike
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